Don't Be Scared

Yesterday I made cupcakes.

Thrilling, I know. But these weren't just any cupcakes. These were filled cupcakes, and an experiment, to boot.  I've never made filled cupcakes before, so I had to do a little research on the interwebs. I had though about filling them prior to cooking, but apparently that's not what typically happens. I found several different ways to fill them, including sticking the tip of a piping bag into a baked cupcake and forcing the stuffing in. I didn't think that sounded very appealing, so I went a different route.

I had made boxed yellow cake, which I know isn't very sophisticated, but there is just something about it I love. I knew I wanted to make chocolate frosting from a recipe my mom used to use, so I needed a filling that would work with the two. I decided on a jar of homemade blackberry jam from last year that had been slightly over-cooked and turned out really thick - thicker than honey, even. Instead of just using it as it, I mixed it in a pot with a couple tablespoons of water and heated it to boiling. I may have added too much water, but it worked pretty dang good.

To fill my cupcakes, I used a paring knife to cut out a cone shape from the center of the cupcake. To make space of the filling, cup off the tip of the cone. My jam was still warm when I put it in the cupcakes, so I probably could have skipped this step.  Fill the hole with filling, and plop on the cut out piece.  Frost as usual.

I tried to pipe my frosting because I didn't want cupcake crumbs to mess up the smooth top.  Turns out I should have let it cool a bit longer, or used less water, because there was no evidence of the star tip I used once the frosting oozed together into a solid fudgy mass.  Not that I'm complaining. It's still a delicious solid fudgy mass.

But it turns out that when you bite into my cupcakes, not knowing they are filled, and it being halloween and all, it looks like the cupcake is bleeding.

Now that I've filled cupcakes once I can't stop imagining the options.  Lemon curd filled rainbow chip cakes with strawberry frosting? YUM.

 

Fast Fudge Frosting

From Mom's Recipe Box

Ingredients:

1 lb powdered sugar (~4 ¾ cups)

½ cup cocoa

¼ tsp salt

1/3 cup boiling water

1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted

1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Combine sugar, cocoa and salt.  Add water and butter, blend.  Add vanilla.

Will frost tops and sides of two 8- or 9-inch layers. Leftovers, if you have any, will keep in the fridge indefinitely. 

Gifts

I finally sewed in the ends on my gift shawl.  It has been languishing in the knitting basket under my sweater for months. I'm kind of ashamed of that. But who needed a shawl in July?

It look s a little wonky, but it really is symetrically shaped. I swear.

I thought the stitch pattern was really cool.  After I figured it out.  I think I restarted this three times because someone would start talking to me while I was knitting and I'd lose a stitch.  Glad I frogged it though, because you can totally see a slipped stitch.

Pattern: Madeleine Shawl by Courtney Kelley, in Vintage Modern Knits
Yarn: Moda Dea Bamboo Wool, green
Needles: US Size 10

Unfortunately I don't get to add it to my Cold Sheep totals because it's already in there.  I'm just playing catch up with pictures.

But speaking of frogging projects due to slipped stitches....

Pattern: Zaggity Hat by Jenny Sorenson
Yarn: Filatura Lanarota Wool Heathers, 729
Needles: US size 5

I thought Peanut needed a hat that matches his little man sweater.  You can't see the design very well due to the low light, but there is a zig zag with knits, purls, and slipped stitches.  I kept reading the pattern wrong and had to frog it after row 12 the first attempt. Apparently I need to pay more attention to reading!

____________________________

Cold Sheep


Total Yards: 15,581.1
Total Grams: 9,870.6
Number of Skeins: 115.3
Finished Objects: 10

Mushroom Bliss

Another successful mushroom hunt!  My parents were in town a couple weeks ago and we took part in two of my favorite fall pastimes: football and chanterelle picking! The Huskies dominated Cal 31-23 on Saturday, then on Sunday we headed to the fungus fields.  We hit the "secret spot" early in the morning so they could make it back home at a decent hour.  After searching fruitlessly in one spot for 20 minutes, I decided someone else must have been there first and we moved on.  Then we hit pay dirt.  After finding their first "spore hole," both parents caught the bug and tromped around excitedly until our bags were full.

I made it home with about 8 lbs of chanterelles! I think Mom and Dad had about 6 lbs on top of that. 

I knew we wouldn't be able to use that many before they got all mushy, so about 5 of my 8 lbs were frozen.  I wanted to try drying them, but my coworker had mentioned that he had heard they don't reconstitute very well.  Dad tried it though, so we'll have to wait for a report from him. 

To freeze chanterelles, clean them by running under a steady stream of water until all loose dirt is off.  Set on paper towels to dry for 5 minutes.  Roughly chop while heating a saute pan over medium heat.  Cook mushrooms over medium heat until they release a lot of water, and it evaporates.  Add a small amount of butter and salt and cook for a few more minutes.  Freeze in tupperware in individual portions so they are easy to grab at a moments notice.

I have been slowly adding the rest of my horde to meals.  The best one yet was a full on cooking even we had two weeks ago.

Oven Roasted Chicken (from this post), bacon mashed potatoes, Parmesan chard, and pear and chanterelle stuffing. It. Was. GLORIOUS.

We really have that whole roast a chicken in less than an hour thing down pat.  We went from this:

(Note the baguette and goat cheese brie appetizer.  A must when you don't eat until 8:30pm.)
To this:

With barely even a thought.  Yeah, we're good.

But the star of this meal was really the stuffing. We poached the recipe from the Times, but it made such a big batch, and used so much butter, that we had to halve it.  Ten tablespoons butter?  Yikes.

Doesn't mean we didn't use any butter though...

I'm pretty sure that's the second butter addition to those onions...

We used a basic fresh bread loaf, which was fresh and way too soft, so it got ripped up and toasted in the oven for about 20 minutes on 250F.

And can I just say how hard it is to gauge how much half a pound of chopped mushrooms is? I'm pretty good at estimating a lot of kitchen goods, but mushrooms are apparently not one of those things. 

All I can say is that I hope I get the chance to go on a mushroom hunt again in November, because I don't want to pay $20/lb for chanterelles and this might just have to be the new Thanksgiving stuffing.

Chanterelle and Pear Bread Stuffing
Modified slightly from The New York Times

1 loaf french bread, cut or ripped into piece
1/2 lb chanterelle mushrooms
1/4 lb pancetta, diced
5 tablespoons butter
1/2 onion, chopped
1 minced shallot
Salt and pepper
2 pears, diced
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
1 cup chicken broth

1. Allow chopped bread to sit out overnight, covered with paper towels, or lightly toast in oven.

2.  Clean mushrooms and chop.  Set aside.  Place pancetta in large skillet over medium heat.  Cook slowly until fat is rendered, about 7 minutes.  Remove to a large plate.

3.  Ad 1 tablespoon butter to fat in pan and turn heat to medium high.  Add onion and shallots, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until just soft.  Remove to plate holding pancetta.

4.  Add 1 1/2 tablespoon butter to pan.  Add mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and quickly sate until starting to brown.  Remove and add to plate.

5.  Add remaining butter to pan.  Add pears and sugar and season with salt and pepper.  Sate pears over medium high heat until they begin to brown slightly.

6.  In a large bowl, add sauteed ingredients to bread.  Toss lightly to combine.  Add herbs and toss again.  Slowly pour broth over mixture and toss.  Taste and adjust for salt and pepper.

7.  Bake in 375 oven for 20-30 minutes, until a golden crust forms on bottom of pan.